I have a confession to make. When I first bought my iPad 3 weeks ago, I had no idea what I’m going to use it for. I had some vague ideas about using it for reading and games, but nothing specific. It seemed like a fun gadget without a purpose.

1. Great on the plane
I went for a short trip over National Day weekend, and the iPad was a lifesaver during the flight and those long waits at the airport. The 10-hour battery life can easily last you from Singapore to London (factoring in some nap and meal times).

2. Games!
There are loads of great games on the iPad. They are usually more expensive than their iPhone counterparts. For example, Plants vs Zombies (PvZ) is US$2.99 on the iPhone but US$9.99 on the iPad. I went ahead with the purchase anyway, and it’s gotta be my best buy ever. Hours of addictive fun, highly recommended.

If you think games on iPhone are fun, then the pleasure is magnified on the iPad’s lovely 9.7″ screen.

3. Reading
The iBook app looked super sleek on the demo unit I played with in the store. The pages have cool animation, and turn like real pages do. To my disappointment, I can only download free books (classics with expired copyrights) from the app store.

It’s even worse with the Kindle app, I can’t even install the app. e-books are generally not for sale in Singapore market, probably due to distribution restrictions by the publishers.

Luckily I found a workaround and managed to install the Kindle app anyway. It was such a mind-blowing experience, all those hundreds of thousands of books just a fingertip away. I bought the “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” trilogy at less than S$7 per book. That’s easily a 60% saving off the paperback, at least.

Reading on the iPad is a different experience. I don’t really find it more tiring than a conventional book, but glare outdoors is a real problem. I prop it up against a case stand and it works really well.

I finished the first book in 2 days, can’t wait to get through the rest.

4. App store
The app store is amazing, being chock full of all kinds of useful apps. I have mostly news apps (e.g. NY Times, BBC News, ABC), and some games (PvZ, Scrabble, Tap Tap series).

I love browsing through the app store, just to see what new apps there are. The “Genius” feature makes great recommendations based on the preferences of other people who have downloaded similar apps.

The system is so slick and well-integrated, it’s hard to see how the other smart phones could overtake iPhones.

5. Work
Don’t snigger, I can actually get some serious work done on the iPad. All I need is a wireless Bluetooh keyboard, and text entry becomes fast and painless.

I need to get a productivity app like iWork or Quickoffice, but I’m still reading reviews on which best suits my needs.

As you might have guessed, this entire post is typed on my iPad with my brand new Microsoft BT keyboard. 🙂

Check out the iPad if you haven’t already, I’m sure it will live up to your expectations and more.